Dr Kylie Morphett

Researcher biography
Dr Kylie Morphett completed her PhD in November 2016 and has since worked as a Research Fellow at the UQ School of Public Health. Prior to beginning her PhD, she worked in a number of non-profit health-related roles, including as a Research Officer at the Cancer Council Queensland Viertel Cancer Research Centre, and as Project Officer at Active Ageing Australia, where she developed health promotion materials aimed at older adults. Her PhD research investigated how smokers understand the neuroscience of nicotine addiction and how this influences their sense of self-efficacy and choice of cessation methods. It also explored barriers to the use of best practice smoking cessation pharmacotherapies.
Dr Morphett's current research is focused on health communication related to tobacco and nicotine products, as well as emerging environmental contaminants. She has expertise in mixed methods research, including systematic reviews, qualitative data analysis and the development and analysis of cross-sectional surveys. She has a strong interest in environmental health communication, and is an investigator on a grant from the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health (QAEHS) to investigate public risk perceptions of environmental contamination with per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) from fire-fighting foams. She has been awarded a UQ Early Career Researcher grant for her project “Understanding risk perceptions of emerging environmental contaminants” and is part of a national collaboration of researchers and practitioners exploring ways to address the social consequences of PFAS.